How Van Andel Arena Transforms For Every Event

Since Van Andel Arena opened in 1996, it has been host to a large variety of events. Sports like ice hockey, basketball, and even arena football, some of the biggest performers of all time like Paul McCartney, Kevin Hart, and Justin Bieber, and even transforming the arena with over 60 truckloads of dirt to support monster trucks, all taking place in the same spot.

⬇️MICHIGAN SPORTS TEAM THAT NO LONGER EXIST⬇️

As said in Field of Dreams, 

"Build it and they will come."

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That's exactly what the arena does every night, magically changing to host any event that comes through those doors. But how does the entertainment venue manage to go from an icy sport like hockey to one played on wood like basketball? The Griffins have pulled back the curtains on this unique transformation.

The Secret Is Underneath

The secret to how the venue can have an ice rink one day and have a basketball court the next is pretty simple: the ice doesn't go anywhere. When it is hockey season, the ice remains, and every other event is built on top of it. It would be far too expensive to re-ice the floor, repaint the logos, sponsors, etc, just to remove it all and do it all over again the next day.

READ MORE: The Story Behind Van Andel Arena’s 15,000-Light Holiday Ribbon |

Instead, arenas like Van Andel have meticulously measured out insulated plywood flooring to perfectly cover the ice while keeping the ice intact and protected from whatever is being placed above it. During the off-season, the ice is removed, and the cement underneath is left bare for easier staging.

Though we don't have the exact metrics of the Van Andel Arena's operations, we can get the general idea of how things are done by comparing it to another familiar name in sports. For the United Center in Chicago, the Blackhawks' rink requires 530 individual sheets to completely cover the ice and prepare it for a Chicago Bulls court, and takes about 2 and a half hours to convert from start to finish, an impressive time. Van Andel is most likely able to flip the courts in less than two hours due to less space being needed.

This time fluctuates based on what the event after hockey is, but these crews prove to be incredibly efficient at their jobs. You can witness an in-depth court flip in the United Center above.